Sue and Sara's keeping in touch blog - issue 10

Latest blog from our Chair Prof Sue Proctor and our Chief Exec Dr Sara Munro – keeping in touch during lockdown!

Three years ago, as a Trust we agreed our values. These are Simplicity, Caring and Integrity. We include them on our paperwork, our website, and all our external communications. We ask about them at job interviews, at appraisals, at Board meetings. We reward and celebrate them at our Trust Awards, Star Awards, Clinical Excellence Awards. They are real and they matter to each of us, and they matter to those who use our services. We always try to live our values.

Integrity

‘Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching you.’ CS Lewis

‘Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you.’ H Jackson Brown Jr

Caring

‘Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed, that’s all who ever have.’ Margaret Mead

Simplicity

‘Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But its worth it in the end because when you get there you can move mountains’ Steve Jobs

Standards of behaviour matter too. We speak of professional standards, codes of conduct, quality standards. As people who have leadership roles in public life we are expected to adhere to the Nolan principles. These are 7 principles that are the template for all leaders in the NHS, local government, the police, the courts, education, social services and in other areas of the public sector. They are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, honesty, accountability, openness and leadership. We are held to high standards of expectation by the public and this helps to build trust.

Over the last 10 weeks during this Covid-19 pandemic, we have been asked to trust our leaders and each other to do what is right in order to reduce the spread of the virus, to Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives. As staff in LYPFT, you have been spectacular in ensuring services have been delivered safely, to a high standard and that the needs of service users continue to be met. Every week, the public show their appreciation of us all, and all other ‘key workers’ in the ‘Clap for Carers’. What we do here matters to us all. And it is valued by us all.

The lockdown is very gradually being eased and we are already making plans for re-setting services and how we use our spaces to ensure that workplaces are safe and that colleagues are informed about how things are progressing. We need to make sure our services are ready and responsive to the meet the needs of many people struggling with their mental health as a result of Covid, and particularly ensure we continue to support those with enduring serious mental illness, or learning disabilities. That we are there for the most vulnerable in our society, and that they know we are there for them. That we still care.

Each week we try to show our appreciation and thanks to you for the ceaseless dedication, courage, tenacity, and compassion so many of you show to each other and our service users every day. So many of you have changed how you work, changed where you work and taken on new responsibilities, with new colleagues. This can be unsettling, upsetting and even a little scary at times. Some of us have experienced illness, bereavement, loss, separation, loneliness and many other challenges and sacrifices during this time in our personal lives. Some of us may feel angry or frustrated that not everyone appears to have heeded the guidance and lived by the rules. But we’ve all done it because we care for each other, whether we are friends, families, households, communities or strangers.

In this latest chapter of the pandemic, it is so important that we hold our nerve, hold our values and standards and keep believing and keep caring. We will get through this pandemic safely and we will do it together, because we have integrity, simplicity and caring in everything we do.

With every good wish, stay safe.

Sue and Sara